Chase After Me Now
by MeridaFaeScott
Summary: It wasn't a frienship she looked forward to ruining, but she had to be honest. Caitlyn knew he wouldn't come chasing after her.


** Yes, yes, yes…Yet another Shaitlyn…I know, I write a lot with this pairing….But this idea came to mind and I couldn't write it any other way. Hope everyone likes it!**

** I threw in a couple of phrases/words from previous conversations with ..Day. on twitter. Let's see if she catches them! :D**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except the plot.**

* * *

The crowd could be heard making such a ruckus that if Caitlyn hadn't been used to it, she'd wonder if something was going on. Of course all the fans were excited about Connect 3's coming performance. Their location for the night- Dallas, Texas.

It was still somewhat a mystery as to how Caitlyn had come to be on tour with Connect 3, but she was pretty sure it had something to do with Nate being her best friend. However, she didn't often question it, but was grateful the things she was learning from their producer. He was so talented and was teaching her a lot-she had already gained a lot of knowledge from him.

The fans' screaming was muffled, but Caitlyn couldn't help but smile to herself. Maybe Texas fans were the loudest and most devoted-she was beginning to think they were the most enthusiastic she'd ever seen, or heard, actually.

"Where's Shane?" Nate's anxious voice directed her attention to across the room where he entered, plainly ready to go on stage, guitar in possessively in hand, "He's going to make us late going on again, isn't he?"

"I'm sure he's coming." Caitlyn spoke up, smiling cheerfully when his brown eyes snapped to hers and she saw him visibly relax and nod curtly.

"He better be." He muttered, but she caught the joking in his tone and was grateful he wasn't in a bad mood. She'd experienced first hand what Nate was like when he was grumpy from lack of sleep and Shane made something not go smoothly. Also, all three got a little nervous before the show, making them all a little uptight about things.

"Here he is." Jason spoke up as the door flew open and Shane came prancing in, looking a bit flustered.

"Darn it, my tie is pain-we aren't late are we?" he snapped, flicking his eyes to each person in turn, but it was Jason that answered his younger brother's impatient question.

"No, about two minutes." Jason replied as their band members began flooding into the room, along with several other from the Connect 3 crew.

It was these last few minute before their entry that Caitlyn loved the best. The adrenaline was rushing in everyone; the entire crew hoping things would go smoothly. Caitlyn usually could just sit back and watch the crowd, giving a helping hand every now and then. Apparently tonight was her "now and then".

With a chuckled at Shane's frantically looking around the suddenly crowded room, Caitlyn reached him and didn't even say a word as he reached up to fix his tie. Apparently, he'd given up on it and she knew it wouldn't bother him in the least to go on stage with it hanging loose around his neck.

"Oh, thanks, Cait," Shane spoke up, looking down at her briefly before sharing a few short words with a couple of different people that came up to him before scampering off for last minute preparations.

"Relax, Shane," Caitlyn commented, again catching his attention and he looked at her with confusion before nodding slowly and taking a deep breath, "You're not usually this stressed about the show to go perfectly, so why start tonight, right?"

"You make an excellent point," Shane murmured, already looking considerably calmer, "I'm just tired…I think that affects my nerves. I don't usually feel this nervous."

"You're going to do just as well as usual-you all are." She encouraged him, patting his shoulders when she finished with his tie, "I know you're all tired, but no one expects perfection-except your fans, and I don't think they see anything but perfection no matter what you do."

He flashed a smile, but someone called his name before he could reply and the next moment, Caitlyn was left standing alone. The room grew fairly quiet as the three boys and their band filed out to make their grand entrance.

Caitlyn grinned when the screams erupted outside.

* * *

Just as she had expected, everything ran just as smoothly as usual and the boys completely relax only moments after going out on stage. It wasn't until the end of the concert and the fans were cheering louder than ever that Caitlyn began to feel tired. Texas seemed to wear her out just from watching the fans dancing, singing, jumping and singing along with the boys.

Everyone flocked around the boys the first few minutes after they came off stage, being sure they all had water bottles in their hands and towels to wipe their sweat off-anything they needed. Caitlyn waited, chatting casually with the boys' band manager until they all left the room to head to their small changing rooms to shower and dress in fresh clothes.

Excusing herself after a few minutes, Caitlyn slipped from the loud room with the talkative crew and made her way down the empty hallway. She wasn't really going to go through with this, was she? It could ruin their friendship, admitting the truth. Was it really worth the risk?

She reached the door and stood a moment, uncomfortably shifting her weight before lifting her hand to knock, regretting her decision immediately after. There was no way she could back out now, though, because the door opened almost instantly and Caitlyn entered hesitantly.

The door gave a soft click as she shut it behind her, keeping her eyes on the ground a moment before forcing them upward. He had just gotten out of the shower; she could tell by the way the room was comfortably warm and smelled like his shampoo. How did she even know the smell?

"Did you need something, Caitlyn?" his teased her for her silence as he towel dried his hair, the clean button up shirt he was wearing was unbuttoned and made her fidget at the sight of his milky skin.

Never before had her throat felt so dry and Caitlyn swallowed slowly, was trying to lift her eyes from his skin that she was wondering if it was smooth. Feeling his piercing gaze, she snapped her eyes up to his questioning brown ones and instantly felt the blush creep into her cheeks. He'd noticed her staring-that was evident by his surprised look and slight blush.

"I wanted to, um, come talk to you," Caitlyn managed to speak fairly calmly despite her pounding heart as she glanced down at his skin again, feeling flustered and knowing she was only making them both uncomfortable, " about…something." She ended weakly.

There was a silence as Shane waited for Caitlyn to explain further, but it soon became evident that she wasn't saying anything more. She watched carefully as he finished drying his hair with a thoughtful look and ran a hand through is now very messy locks.

"Is something bothering you? You seemed fine before the show." Shane commented softly, as though sensing this was a delicate subject that she was hinting at and he didn't want to ruin it.

"I wasn't fine before the show, I just didn't say anything." Caitlyn replied quietly, busying her fingers by playing with her purplepink bracelet, "I didn't want it to affect your guys' performance."

"That serious?" he looked concerned now and the expression made her feel sick to her stomach at what she was doing. Ruining a strong friendship. Sure, they had their playful banter, but it was always playful.

"I…" she honestly didn't know how to go about voicing these thoughts and absentmindedly wondered if Shane was planning on brushing his messy hair any time soon. He had flicked it back when talking and now she was mesmerized by it, "I don't know how to say it…"

"You've never had trouble talking before," Shane teased, "I think you can handle spitting it out."

"It's you." She stated firmly, watching the confused expression take over his face. Caitlyn didn't miss the way his nervously fingered the hem of his still distractingly unbuttoned shirt.

"What is?" Shane asked softly, taking a tentative step toward her and Caitlyn took a shaky breath.

"What's bothering me-you." She forced the words to pass her lips, tasting the bitter sweetness of honesty and knowing hurt was coming. The room was painfully silent and Caitlyn suddenly felt smothered by the fresh smell in the room from the recent shower he'd taken.

"I don't-"

"I like you, Shane." She muttered, closing her eyes to block out the shocked expression that was suddenly on his face, "As more than a friend."

"…How long?" he rasped, and Caitlyn opened her eyes attentively.

"A few weeks…couple months…I don't know!" Caitlyn's eyes flashed with annoyance. What did it matter anyways?, "I'm sorry, Shane."

"Why're you sorry?" Shane asked softly, in a gentle tone that almost allowed her to hope, but his next words pushed her blooming hopes to the ground, "It's not like you can help it."

The lump that had been growing in her throat seemed to choke Caitlyn at his words, wondering when she had ever let something disappoint her this much. She knew it had been coming, but something in the back of her head kept her hoping…

"I shouldn't have said anything," she tried to keep the tears from falling, not needing to be any further mortified in front of him, "I hope we can still be friends." That was a foolish hope, too, and Caitlyn scrambled to turn and open the door before dashing down the hall.

Every last hope was crushed into four million pieces when he didn't come chasing after her. That's how it was in all the movies, but she wasn't living a movie-she was living a night mare. A tear stained dream that left you waking up to tragedy.

Her footsteps echoed through the hall, reminding her that she was the only one briskly making her way down the hall to the back parking lot. There was no reason to stay any longer-she might as well get her hotel room for the night and not wait for the boys. She had no desire to see any one of them again for the rest of the day. The tears flooded her cheeks as she stepped into the warm air that soothing her strangely burning skin.

He hadn't even tried to stop her. Or chased after her.

* * *

He was supposed to chase after her-that's how it was in all the books and movies. Why couldn't it have been like that? Caitlyn cursed herself inwardly at the foolish thought that maybe, just maybe, things would pan out well and end the way she wished they would.

"Caitlyn!" someone called, but she only frowned and kept walking through the parking lot, "Caitlyn!" Finally she halted with a sigh and waited for him to catch up with her. Even Nate would chase her, but not Shane.

"I've got to get the hotel _now _or all our reservations are _gone_, can you take this to Shane and tell him we'll meet him there? Thanks, you're the best!" Nate shoved something cool into her hand and dashed off to where a car was waiting.

As soon as the car was out of sight, Caitlyn groaned at the fate she was shoved into. The cell phone Nate had handed her was held in a steely grip as she squared her shoulders and turned back toward the building. She wouldn't run from her feelings, from Shane. That kind of thing could ruin their friendship…more.

In only a matter of minutes, Caitlyn found herself once again being let into Shane's dressing room, only this time she couldn't meet his eyes at all. _So much for acting normal. _Offering the cell phone that Nate has somehow ended up with, she bit her lip at the feeling of him taking it.

His warm fingers gripped her wrist, though and pulled her closer to him, "You shouldn't have run off, Cait." Shane whispered, but she didn't feel like having pity. That wasn't the emotion she had wanted from him.

"I saw to reason to stay." She murmured, blinking repetitively to keep her vision from being blurred from the threatening tears. Caitlyn kept her eyes focused on the milky skin-he still hadn't finished dressing, "Nate said to tell you to meet them at the hotel."

Shane didn't release her wrist as she had expected to at her attempt to pull free. It was getting to be quite uncomfortable to be so close to him without looking at his face. She'd rather not meet his sympathy filled eyes,.

"Caitlyn," he sighed, and she found herself slowly looking up to meet his eyes, feeling choked up at the sad expression on his face. The look was evidence enough that she'd ruined everything.

The fact that he was pulling her still closer registered and she attempted to resist, but it was useless. He was looking at her with such intensity that if only a moment ago she hadn't been crying over his not chasing her, Caitlyn would allow herself to hope it meant something.

Her heart was thudding loudly in her chest and Caitlyn felt the heat rise to her cheeks once again. Now he was just being cruel. Showing her what she would be missing by sliding an arm around her waist. To say she minded when he lifted her fingers to his lips to kiss them lightly would be a lie.

What took her breath away, though, was the fact that Shane placed her palm against his warm chest. Caitlyn reminded herself to breath, but couldn't seem to voice her question as to why he was acting this way.

Shane brushed his lips against hers and she found herself aching for him to actually feel something for her. If this was pity, it was painfully close to what she imagined love or affection to be.

"I'm so sorry, Caity," Shane whispered, "I should have chased after you."

The words made her bite her lip in uncertainty. She'd been hurt enough for one day and refused to let her hopes soar high again only to be shot down by him. There was sincerity in his eyes that made her relax against her will.

"I think I said and did everything wrong a few minute ago and completely give you the wrong idea." Shane went on, looking a little bashful as he spoke, "I've felt the same way for awhile now…"

Caitlyn bit back a smile and ran her fingers over his skin, enjoying the feeling of his warm, milky skin under her fingertips. There was nowhere else she'd rather be at the moment. The night had held so many emotional twists and turns and it was leaving her exhausted, but happy with the ending.

Seeing him bending down to kiss her, she turned her head and laughed at the hurt look on his face, "Chase after me now." she teased, pushing strongly against his chest and dashing from the room.

The sound of his hurried footsteps behind her gave her a rush of adrenaline as she ran down the otherwise empty hall, hearing him laugh.

**Wow! It's long! And I actually like it! :O **

** I would LOVE to see some reviews for this!**


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